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Budget Coolers for AMD Platform



Part 2. Test results, summary table

Part 1. GlacialTech, Speeze and Thermaltake Products

Test results

We use the same procedures for evaluating thermal efficiency of coolers for Socket 754/939/AM2 as for Socket 478 coolers and those that are actively used for testing LGA775 coolers. The primary data used for the consequent calculation of thermal resistance are temperature readings of the thermal diode built into a processor, only the thermal source is different (Athlon 64 3700+ processor), the base platform (Fujitsu-Siemens D1607 motherboard), and a set of test applications.

Testbed configuration:

  • Fujitsu Siemens Computers D1607-G motherboard
  • AMD Athlon 64 3700+ CPU (Clawhammer)
  • OS: Microsoft Windows XP

We use the S&M utility to simulate maximum thermal load of a processor, and SystemGuard from Fujitsu-Siemens to monitor temperatures.

Diagram 1. Temperature readings

Notes
Each cooler was tested with thermal paste Stars 420
The diagram contains complex results


Diagram 2. Thermal resistance

Note
Thermal resistance θja is defined as the relation
θja = (Tj — Ta)/Ph, where Tj is the temperature of a CPU core, Ta is the environment temperature (it's 33°C in this case), Ph is the thermal capacity of a processor (in this case it's 80 Watts).

Finally, at the end of this article we publish the noise measurement results (the method of testing is described in the article Noise characteristics of coolers and the noise measurement method) as well as the efficiency/noise rating of coolers.



Diagram 3. Noise characteristics

Note: Background noise level 18 dBA



Diagram 4. Efficiency/noise ratio

Note
The efficiency/noise ratio (ENR) is calculated as:

ENR = DM*(Rt/P¢C)/(NL/Rn), where

Rt — reference temperature (the reference thermal resistance θja of the cooling system - 0.3°C/Watt), TC — the core temperature with the operating cooling system, Rn — reference noise (the reference noise level is 25 dBA), NL — noise level, generated by the cooling system, DM — denominate multiplier (10).

Summary table


Table 1. Summary statistics on tested coolers
Model Thermal resistance,
 °C/W
Noise, dBA Weight, g* Compatibility with Socket AM2
Arctic Cooling Alpine 64
0.48
33
485
Yes
Cooler Master DK8-8I32A-99
0.55
35
410
Yes
Cooler Master CK8-8JD2B-99
0.46
39
485
Yes
Cooler Master CK8-9JD2B-0C
0.54
32
480
Yes
Cooler Master X Dream K640
0,541
321
445
Yes
Cooler Master X Dream K641
0.55
34
430
Yes
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-1CN
0,481
451
360
Yes
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-1T
0.66
32
320
Limited
Foxconn NBT-CMAK8-2T
0.63
33
345
Limited
GlacialTech Igloo 7300 Light
0.49
32
415
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7300
0.45
38
415
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7300 Pro
0.43
42
415
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7210 Silent
0.58
30
310
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7210 Light
0.51
33
310
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7210
0.48
37
310
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 Light (E)
0.51
33
290
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 (E)
0.46
37
290
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7220 Pro (E)
0.44
44
290
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7310 Light
0.48
30
365
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7310
0.45
35
365
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7310 Pro
0.43
40
365
Yes
GlacialTech Igloo 7310 TC
0,461
321
370
Yes
Speeze DolphinReef III
0.50
36
3052
Yes
Speeze KestrelKing I
0.50
48
290
Yes
Speeze KestrelKing II
0.48
49
300
Yes
Speeze CopperReef
0.49
35
4352
Yes
Thermaltake TR2 M6 SE
0.58
33
425
Yes
Thermaltake TR2 M14 SE
0.48
36
470
Yes
Thermaltake TR2 M17 SE
0.46
36
505
Yes
Thermaltake TR2 M19 SE
0.54
40
300
Yes
Thermaltake TR2 R1
0.46
31
435
Yes
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8A825Z
0.54
40
395
Yes
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8A825Z/CU35
0.54
38
405
Yes
Titan Data Cooler DC-K8D925Z
0.48
37
385
Yes
Titan TTC-K8ETB/825
0.54
42
405
Yes
Titan TTC-K8DTB/925
0.53
40
415
Yes
Titan TTC-K8ATB/825/SC
0,533
503
560
No
Titan TTC-NK32TZ
0.41
41
550
Yes
*Full weight, including the retention module
1 This parameter varies depending on fan speed
2 Without taking into account additional installation accessories
3 This parameter corresponds to maximum fan speed

There seems to be no need in any comments here. It's time to have a look at our a table of ranks — ratings of cooling systems!

Budget coolers for AMD - Ratings of 38 Winter Models

Procedural appendix. Integrated Assessment of Usability of Cooling Systems



Vitali Crinitsin (vit@ixbt.com)
February 8, 2007


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